The First Spanish Crusade for North Africa
The First Spanish Crusade for North Africa has its roots in the Reconquista of Granada by the brave Spanish conquistadors. By 1475 the Spanish had completely suppressed Muslim resistance in the region of Granada. With the successful incorporation of the last bastion of Islam in Europe, the Queen of Spain (Aviers) turned her sights further South to North Africa. At the time the Sultanate of Morocco was unstable and weak, having waged a war against Portugal for Ceuta, and against the Ottoman Empire in its conquest of the Levant. 1490 saw Morocco weaker than ever, her manpower depleted, and her coffers running dry. She was ripe for conquest by the Spanish Queen. The Queen being no fool promptly declared war on January 27th 1490, and rallied her soldiers numbering 70K for a beach landing on the African side of the Rock of Gibraltar. The Moroccan Sultan (AI), desperate for help, called on his staunch ally Tunis(AI) for aid, and the Tunisian armies totaling 25K mobilized for war with the Christian Invaders. Four months later the war was going well for the Spanish. The Queen had managed to crush the Muslim defenders, and her forces had been reinforced by 10K Papal Crusaders. However at this time word had also reached the Ottoman Sultan (IcarusXII) in Constantinople. Enraged at the idea of Christian soldiers desecrating Muslim land with their filthy footsteps, the Ottoman Sultan declared a Jihad on the infidel, and mobilized his veteran Battalions and Legions for war. In a famous quote the Sultan declared "For every inch of land the Infidel gains in North Africa, he shall lose the same amount in Italy." and marched the 1st Legion "Liberators" and the war tested 3rd "Lionhearted" and 8th "Sultans Children" battalions to Epirus, to prepare for an amphibious invasion of the Italian mainland. The Queen, seeing that an invasion of her land in Southern Italy was inevitable without outside intervention, called in her allies the King of Poland-Lithuania (Constantine the Great) and the King of France (coopertaudien) into the escalating war. Both answered, and the Ottoman Sultan was forced to call off the invasion of Italy in favor of a land war in Poland. Meanwhile the Polish readied their 60K troops for war and marched south to protect the march of Moldavia from the inevitable Ottoman invasion, whilst at the same time occupying the Ottoman trading outpost of Theodosia. 80K Ottoman soldiers crossed the border into Moldavia on August 16th 1490 at 8:32 AM. They instantly crushed 20K Polish troops and quickly occupied the march of Moldavia. By the end of the year they were marching into the Polish heartland, and were engaged by the main part of the Polish army. 40K heroic Polish crusaders clashed with 60K grim Ottoman legionaries. although the outcome seemed fixed on an Ottoman victory, at the last moment, when victory seemed nigh impossible for the brave polish, 50K french soldiers came crashing into the Ottomans western flank. The Ottomans, afraid of incurring heavy losses and not wanting to waste their manpower beat an orderly retreat. However the casualties on both sides were enormous. Over 30K polish soldiers were dead, 10K french, and the 2nd and 3rd legions of the Ottomans were devastated in the fighting on the western flank (over 30K losses total). Low on manpower, and Exhausted from fighting a war in Poland on behalf of Morocco half a world away, the Ottomans made a white peace with the crusaders. With the Ottomans out of the way, the Spanish were able to make peace with the weary Moroccans, seizing various provinces in North Africa. These crusader fortresses would later be used to launch further invasions into North Africa, heralding a new age of crusades in a brand new theater that had never known holy war.